The food scene in Big Apple, what not to miss

Pardon the blasphemy: I write from the original Biblical Paradise. I am convinced that it was this very big apple that Eve tempted Adam with. So here’s a teeny taste of New York’s vast, tentacled food scene’s eternally evolving everythingness. My son Dhruv and his friend Tracy help me check it all out… from the low and high, faddish and fun, diabolically tasty, heart-breakingly expensive to the cheapest… happily, vegetarians have plenty to eat everywhere.

NYC CULT FOOD AND STREET FARE

Go on. Take to the streets and you’ll be spoilt for choice, from calzones, falafel to combined papaya juice/hot dog stands, corndogs, grilled chestnuts and more. Go for the steaming, paper thin heaps of pastrami overflowing from a sandwich (Katz Deli ). Manhattan is pizza lovers haven. Lombardis (Spring street) is still my choice though you can pick up a slice most anywhere.

A BITE OF HISTORY

NYC is where the Delicatessan (Deli) was created by the East European jews as also the Reuben sandwich.

Steak Diane, Vichyssoise and the Waldorf salad. Cronuts being the latest. Crunch on the apple and walnut rich Waldorf salad at the Waldorf Astoria like we do or step back in time in the old-word charm of Café Carlye (76th and Madison) where music legends have played, we were lucky to hear Woody Allen on the clarinet as we dined on the classic Lobster Bisque and Branzino. Can’t keep eating fancy? Do what I did! Go to the iconic Plaza hotel’s brand new Todd English Foodhall (1 W 59th street) for affordable fare.

GRANDSTANDS

If you have deep pockets (or like us save up and not shop), then a five-hour Italian meal at celebrity chef Mario Batallis’ 24,000 sq ft elegant Del Posto (85, 10th Ave) is a must. I ate at Perse (Columbus Circle) last trip and found it too frilly and predictable.

FINE DINE DEMOCRATISED

It’s also called the “Momofuku effect” and it all started with my favorite fabulous Michelin starred Changs Momofuku Ssäm bar (East village) superlative food.

We dine with Viveka Purandare at Will Guidara’s fabulous NoMad’s (1170 Broadway) lacquered roast chicken with truffles and foie gras to the mindblowing simplicity of red radishes enrobed in a thin shell of butter. On my last trip we had dined at their “Eleven Madison Park” (10 Columbus circle)… astounding though more formal.

Michelin starred Junoon (means passion in hindi) (27 W, 24th St) lives up to it’s name and serves up an authentic, yet elegantly modern take on Indian cuisine. And four of us speakers (Hemant Oberoi, Zorawar Kalra, Rajesh Bhardwaj and me ) from the Columbia Business school food panel dine in this handsome, high-ceilinged, packed and noisy restaurant where the hot sexy chef Vikas Khanna creates magic. With us are Revti Gupta, Divya Surana and Kersi Shroff the brilliant masterminds of Columbia’s Inspiring India.

Asia is on steroids at this sprawling new Tao Downtown (92 9th Ave) loud music, seabass satay, dimsum, sake flight tasting and Patrick Duxbury insists we trip out the most decadent dessert platter. We do happily.

Beauty & Essex… Walk through a jewellery pawn shop into this gem of a restaurant with sharing mutli-ethnic plates. Purvi Thacker and I trip out on Lobster tacos to eggplant pizzettas

Love the vibe and Italian fare at Robert di Nero’s Greenwich hotel.The fluffy pancakes at Three Guys Restaurant (Madison Avenue) and the Greek manager proudly informs that the worlds most beautiful actress Deepika Padukone has eaten here.

ROOHI JAIKISHEN RECOMMENDS

It was a virtual miracle: it was on Instagram that I got recommendations from Roohi Jaikishen, the discerning gourmet New York addict and followed them too. Amongst them were, Jean Georges Vongerischten at

Author

World Gourmand Award winner Rashmi Uday Singh is the author of India's first-ever city restaurant guide. Singh studied law and management, and worked as a deputy commissioner with the Indian Revenue Service, which she quit after 15 years to train with the BBC. Singh has written 22 books on food, night life and people. She hosts TV shows and writes columns for Bombay Times and Chennai Times. She promises this blog will be as much fun as eating out with her, at a range of exciting places in India and abroad.

World Gourmand Award winner Rashmi Uday Singh is the author of India's first-ever city restaurant guide. Singh studied law and management, and worked as a d. . .